Comments on: Feed The Fact Generator

By: Sue

Sue — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 02:39:37 +0000

Buzz Aldrin’s mother’s maiden name was Moon.

Queens NY

By: kerensa

kerensa — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:06:20 +0000

The U.S. definition of an astronaut is someone who has traveled at least 50 miles above the Earth’s sea level. Over the years, the U.S. military and NASA have disagreed over the distance that earned a pilot “astronaut” status, but the case of three NASA test pilots who flew their X-15s above 50 miles in the 1960s was finally resolved in 2006 when they were finally awarded their “Astronaut Wings.”

By: Irene

Irene — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:41:16 +0000

Due to the quirks of the workings of the inner ear for balance, all astronauts that go into space suffer acutely from vertigo (read: they throw up a lot) for the first several days until they adjust.

The flipside is that upon returning to Earth, the first several days back it’s virtually impossible to make them motion sick.

Madison, WI

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:05:38 +0000

On August 16, 1960, Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger parachuted to Earth from the height of 102,880 feet (31,330 m), well into our Stratosphere. Free falling for over 4 minutes, his decent to Earth reached speeds of 614 mph (989 km/h). This jump still holds records for highest parachute jump and fastest speed by a man through the atmosphere. For all intents and purposes Joe Kittinger, and not Yuri Gagarin, was the first space tourist.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:41:18 +0000

forgot to add my location.

Columbia, SC

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:40:24 +0000

The planet Uranus was discovered by English astronomer William Herschel in 1781. He almost named the planet George in honor of King George III.

By: Brandy

Brandy — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:23:56 +0000

When Apollo 13 left the moon headed back to Earth, if their trajectory had been off by just two degrees, they would have missed Earth by 10,000 miles.

By: Francisco L.

Francisco L. — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:50:51 +0000

Almost every surface feature of Venus is properly named after women or goddesses. There are three exceptions: Alpha Regio, Beta Regio and the Maxwell Montes (named for James Clerk Maxwell).

Sorry if my English sucks :P.

By: Ohne Hosen

Ohne Hosen — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:26:23 +0000

@ Manda:
And when you let the water out, Saturn will leave a ring around the tub!
/Corny Astronomy Teacher Joke

By: jimg

jimg — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:54:56 +0000

Gary–

No political or faith questions here, just looking at the science.

I’m just amazed at it, if it turns out to be accurate. I would have thought that the universe would be substantially older than the earth, as it is substantially larger, like an oak tree relates to an individual leaf…

Also, what could this mean in terms of the prevalence of intelligent life? All rhetorical, of course.